SEO vs AEO: What Recruitment Agencies Need to Know

If you run a recruitment agency, you’ve probably been sharpening your SEO: picking keywords, building pages, earning backlinks. It works, believe me! 

It brings candidates and clients to your site. But lately, a new approach is emerging, Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO). And if you don’t at least understand it, you might be missing out.

So what is AEO, how does it differ from SEO and how should recruitment businesses blend both for maximum impact?

What is SEO?

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the practice of making your website and content more visible in search engines like Google. For recruitment agencies, SEO means:

• Ensuring your job listings, service pages and blogs show up when people search for things like “IT recruitment agency in Bristol”

• Working on technical foundations like having a mobile-friendly site, fast page load speeds and clean structure.

• Producing content people want, such as, case studies, staff spotlight and hiring tips

• Earning backlinks or mentions, so that Google sees your site as credible

SEO is tried and tested. It’s long-term. But in 2025, the environment is shifting.

What is AEO?

AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) is newer. It acknowledges that more of your audience is getting answers from AI systems, voice assistants and generative tools before they even click through to websites. Think of tools like ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews, voice search or any system designed to give a direct answer.

For recruitment agencies, optimising for AEO means you aim for your content to be the source cited in these AI/answer-driven experiences. You want to be quoted, to have your content included in snippet answers, like: “How do I prepare for an interview in finance recruitment?”

What Are The Key Differences Between SEO and AEO

	SEO	AEO
Goal	Rank in search results & drive clicks/traffic	Be cited or selected as the answer in AI/voice/answer-engine results
Content style	Keyword-focused, longer content, optimised for ranking pages	Conversational, concise, structured (FAQs, summaries), question-answer formats
User intent	Users exploring, comparing, browsing	Users wanting answers immediately, fewer clicks, more direct responses
Technical setup	On-page optimisation, site speed, backlinks	Structured data/schema, content markup, FAQ schema, clarity & semantic structure
Metrics	Keyword rankings, organic traffic, bounce rate, conversions	Visibility in answer engines, featured snippets, zero-click traffic, voice search mentions

Why AEO Matters for Recruitment Agencies

• Voice & conversational searches are growing. Candidates might ask Siri or Alexa “best recruitment agency near me” rather than typing

• Zero-click searches are up, users often get answers directly on search or AI tools without needing to click through. If your agency isn’t in those answers, you miss visibility

• Trust and authority matter. Being cited as “the answer” by AI builds credibility. Even if someone doesn’t click, knowing your brand shows up in AI/answer summaries makes you top of mind

• Future-proofing your marketing, as AI becomes more integrated into search, those who adapt early will get visibility advantages

How to Combine SEO + AEO for Real Results

You don’t need to abandon SEO. Think of AEO as an evolution that sits on top of strong SEO foundations. You still need to build a robust SEO strategy but keeping AEO in mind when building out your SEO strategy will only benefit your brand in the long term. 

“My approach when I build an SEO strategy is to firstly look at what people are searching, so I can position the brand in front of a relevant audience, but also spend time looking at what Google FAQs that are related to the keyword / term I am researching. Which is in a sense what AEO is, but rather than the standard Google FAQs, it’s via an AI tool, such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini. 

In my opinion AEO is here to stay, as AI has become part of the search process, but it isn’t replacing SEO, it’s adding to the complexity and opportunity for businesses.”

My Thoughts on SEO vs. AEO

SEO isn’t dead. AEO isn’t a replacement. The smartest recruitment agencies will treat them as partners. Use SEO to build stable traffic, use AEO to get your agency spoken about, trusted and cited, especially as AI and voice change how people are searching and finding you.

How Can GATT Help?

We’ve always believed in marketing that is data-led, we focus on strategies that support sales, generate leads and create brand credibility. Integrating AEO into your recruitment marketing means:

• Updating your content plans to include question/answer formats

• Auditing your site structure and schema to ensure AI readability

• Ensuring SEO work continues to underpin everything, so you don’t lose strength in traditional search, while gaining new visibility in AI-driven results

Want to see how your current content stacks up for both SEO and AEO? Drop me a message, happy to run a review and show where you could win those voice/answer-engine spots.

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